Applications are now open for the Level 3 Head Coach Award in table tennis.

The qualification is suitable for learners who have completed the Lead Coach (UKCC) Level 2 and want to take the next step on the coaching pathway, whether they are a coach who works with beginners, through to those working with talented athletes.

This year’s course will begin in November, with applications being accepted until August 31st. In recent years the course has been heavily oversubscribed and therefore applicants are advised to apply early.

Among last year’s attendees was Dan Basterfield, Head Table Tennis Coach at the Greenhouse Centre.

Speaking about the course, he said:

I’d 100% recommend this course. This is something completely different. It gives you a different experience and a different way of thinking on how you are going to coach.

To be able to come here and talk with different table tennis people forces you to get out of your bubble and learn what you can do differently to become a better coach.

Designed by Table Tennis England and the University of Gloucestershire, the course focuses on each candidate’s individual coaching needs and is designed to support the environment a coach coaches within, such as Performance, Participation and Disability.

The course will help coaches develop and master an array of cognitive and transferable skills alongside a complex blend of knowledge and theories.

The development of such knowledge and skills will enhance coaches’ abilities to manage and engage in informed decision-making within sports coaching.

Paul Garner, Senior Lecturer in Sports Coaching from the University of Gloucestershire, who delivers the course, said:

When we are coaching, even with the best will in the world, we get pulled into a routine. We turn up and we do our job to the best of our ability, but we don’t have the time to step back and reflect and to really have those deep conversation with people, and that’s what this course provides – a chance for coaches to step back and see things from a different perspective.

To find out more about the Level 3 Head Coach course, watch the video below.

 

The course takes 12 months to complete and costs £950. Download the application form below for further details on the course.